On a recent visit to the Rwandan capital, Kigali, I was deeply struck by the words of a 15-year-old I met called Olivier who is living with HIV and receiving treatment with the help of the Global Fund.
He looked at me intensely, his eyes burning with new-found hope, and said: "Thanks to you we are healthy and we can make our dreams come true. Antiretroviral (ARV) medicines are making us strong."
Olivier is one of 5 million people who are getting life-saving treatment in the developing world, compared with a mere handful barely a decade ago. Another 10 million people living with HIV need treatment and will eventually die unless they too are put on medication.
Whenever money intended for people like Olivier is stolen, it is an affront to the donors who put their trust in us and an outrage for people still waiting to start treatment whose lives are hanging by a thread.
That is why the Global Fund, which provides the funding but relies on governments, NGOs and faith-based organizations to implement health programs in the field, pursues corruption so relentlessly and insists that every cent that goes missing is paid back. Our zeal has occasionally come as a shock to some of our recipients who are not used to being held to such exceptionally high standards of transparency and accountability. We see this as a partnership, a joint enterprise between donors and recipients, in which all can learn. We have found, for example, that money intended for training programs has been misappropriated in a number of countries and we are doubling our vigilance in this area.
Fortunately, the dramatic results we are delivering in the fight against the three diseases show that the vast majority of the funds that the Global Fund disburses are reaching people in need. Programs supported by the Global Fund are saving 4,400 lives every day.
A report by the Associated Press on Sunday referred to already well-documented incidents of misappropriation of funds that were reported by the Global Fund last year. While yesterday's media reports contained no real news, they drew attention to the fact that sums of money are sometimes misappropriated by people who are entrusted with managing our grants. What these reports also convey is the Global Fund has no tolerance whatsoever of corruption.
In its report last year, the Global Fund's Inspector General listed grave misuse of funds in four out of the 145 countries which receive grants from the Global Fund. As a result, immediate steps were taken in Djibouti, Mali, Mauritania and Zambia to recover misappropriated funds and to prevent future misuse of grant money.
The Global Fund is at present demanding the recovery of US $39 million unaccounted for in these and other countries out of a total disbursement of US $13 billion. We have already recovered nearly $5 million.
The Global Fund is working with the relevant authorities to ensure that those committing fraud are brought to justice. Criminal proceedings are already underway in Mali, Mauritania and Zambia.
In the words of our Inspector General: "The distinguishing feature of the Global Fund is that it is very open when it uncovers corruption. That is its comparative advantage."
Our openness inevitably leads to publicity every time we uncover wrongdoing. By going after corruption whenever we find it, we are determined to show both our donors and people like Olivier, whose lives depend on our funding, that we will not let them down.
The Bloomberg story cites Richard Doherty, director of the consulting firm Envisionering Group, who says that Apple has been working to embed the technology in the "next iteration of the iPhone for AT&T Inc and the iPad 2," both of which are expected to be launched this year.
It's not an unexpected move. As we have reported previously, Apple has made some strategic hires of NFC experts, and the Android already offers this functionality.
NFC Plus iTunes
What makes the Bloomberg news interesting, if true - other than the fact that the report only mentions this NFC technology in the AT&T iPhone, not a Verizon iPhone - is the way in which NFC, matched with the iTunes checkout system, could truly become a de facto payment method for many of us. Users are already incredibly familiar and comfortable with purchasing things via iTunes, and as we look to alternatives to cash, checks, and even credits cards - particularly when it comes to making payments on the go - it makes sense that Apple provides that service.
It makes sense for users and for Apple. As the Bloomberg story notes, it could help Apple cut costs associated with credit card processing fees. But it could also greatly expand the reach of the iTunes service. And according to Doherty, this is in the works for mid-2011, with plans to "revamp iTunes, a service that lets consumers buy digital movies and music, so it would hold not only users' credit-card account information but also loyalty credits and points."
So get ready to pay with your phone. Get ready to receive targeted ads and coupons with your phone. The industry has been saying that for a while. But while NFC has been touted as the future of mobile money and mobile shopping, one of the major pieces missing from implementation is the infrastructure necessary to facilitate it. And it sounds like Apple, if the Bloomberg report is true, may be working on just that very thing.
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